Fifty Points for Christmas
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Harry spends his first Christmas holidays at Hogwarts looking after his guardian, Professor Snape, who is sick with the wizard's flu. Sequel to "Rescue on the first of September," but reading of the prequel not necessary. AU, partly OOC, sick!Sev


**Fifty Points for Christmas  
**

_This is a sequel to "Rescue on the First of September," which __doesn't necessarily have to be read in advance, although it helps to understand Severus' kind behaviour towards Harry._

* * *

Harry woke up with a huge smile on his face. '_Today the winter holidays are going to begin, and Severus promised to show me how to brew ginger chocolate drops, which I can give Professor McGonagall for Christmas_,' he mused happily as he enthusiastically jumped out of his bed in the Slytherin first year boys' dormitory.

After his dramatic rescue from the Dursleys' by Professors McGonagall and Snape and his Sorting into Slytherin, the teachers had decided to transfer the guardianship over the eleven-year old to Professor Snape. Harry was very happy with this solution since he got along well with his Head of House and he was much nicer than his relatives. He was even allowed to call the teacher by his given name when they were alone or at home, and the professor had added a new room to his quarters just for Harry. Today, when all the other students would be gone for the holidays, he'd move into his own room, and he was very excited about it. Professor McGonagall had been nominated his second guardian to be there for him if Severus was absent or couldn't watch him for some reason, and he liked the strict Gryffindor Head of House, who was very kind to him, a lot.

As much as he was looking forward to the winter holidays for the first time since he could remember, he would be going to miss his friends Blaise, Millicent, and Hermione. Although Hermione was a Gryffindor first year, they knew each other well, because they always studied together in the library, and since Harry, Blaise, and Millicent had rescued her from a mountain troll on Halloween, they had become good friends.

'_Severus offered to take me to Hogsmeade to see my friends off at the station; that's cool_,' he mused, before he proceeded to wake up his roommates Blaise and Draco.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Only later, when he stepped out onto the grounds to accompany his friends to Hogsmeade, did Harry notice that it had snowed, and it had snowed a lot overnight. The whole grounds were covered in twinkling white snow that looked beautiful in the yellowish light of the morning sun against the blue sky. The four friends began an impromptu snowball fight, before all of a sudden Harry's Head of House's voice penetrated his mind.

"If you're sure you want to grace your family with your presence over Christmas, you should board the carriages immediately; otherwise you'll miss the train," Snape snarled, causing Harry to turn around and throw his guardian an apologetic look.

"Sorry Professor," Harry replied softly, following his friends into one of the last carriages. '_Somehow he sounded strange_,' he mused, watching how Snape let himself sink into the last carriage together with Professor Flitwick, the tiny Charms teacher.

"All right Harry, take care and don't forget to write and tell us how life with Professor Snape is," Millicent said as she pulled him in a hug at the station.

"Happy holidays," Harry replied, laughing. "It'll be all right. So far, he was always very nice to me."

"And don't use the excuse that you lent me Hedwig. I know that there are hundreds of school owls you can use," Hermione lectured him in a stern voice.

"All right, we have to go. Bye Harry and Merry Christmas."

"Bye Blaise," Harry replied, watching with a mixture of sadness and expectation as his friends boarded the Hogwarts Express.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Twenty minutes later, Harry was walking down to the dungeons, happy to be able to keep up with the Professor's for once moderate pace.

"Harry, did you pack everything, so we can ask a house elf to collect your belongings?" Severus queried and seeing Harry nod led him into his private quarters.

Harry looked around happily. He absolutely loved his guardian's living room. It was a circular room with huge bookshelves that covered the walls, a sofa and several comfortable seats arranged around a large fireplace, and a magical window showing the lake and the Quidditch pitch. At one side of the room was a small table with the pattern of a wizard's chess set, on which the chess pieces were always ready to be played with. Harry and Severus often played chess on Sunday mornings, because the Headmaster had told Severus that Harry should spend a few hours each week with Severus in order to get used to his new guardian. Harry couldn't play very well yet, but the professor tried to teach him, and Harry loved his chess lessons with the man.

"You wanted to brew ginger chocolate drops for Professor McGonagall, didn't you?" his guardian's voice pulled Harry out of his reverie.

"Oh yes please, if you don't mind, sir," Harry replied promptly.

The teacher gave him a short nod and led the way into his private lab. Harry followed hesitantly, because he'd never been allowed in the lab before, and he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the well organized large room, which held about half the size of the potions classroom. The four white walls were covered with shelves holding hundreds of phials with potions as well as every kind of glasses containing the strangest ingredients. '_It's absolutely gorgeous. I imagined it to be a tiny chamber_,' he mused, while he took the seat at the table the professor pointed to.

The professor laid out the recipe for him, saying, "If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask, Harry. This potion is fairly easy, so you should be able to brew it if you closely follow the instructions."

"Thank you, sir; I'll be careful," Harry promised and began to gather the ingredients, noticing with relief that the ingredients shelves were organized the same way as in the classroom, even if they were much larger here.

The professor busied himself brewing a potion of his own at the table right next to Harry's. '_Strange_,' Harry mused, while he carefully cut and chopped the ingredients according to the instructions, '_I've never seen him sit in front of a cauldron. Normally, he towers over everything. He only sits, if he is eating, grading homework, or playing chess_.'

HP SEVERUS' POV HP

'_The boy seems to be as adept at Potions as Lily was, and he even seems to be much more confident in what he is doing than in the Potions class_,' Severus mused, watching from the corner of his eye how Harry carefully prepared the ingredients as if he had done it many times before. '_Oh right, he told me that Petunia taught him to cook when he was three years old. Well, maybe that explains why he is so competent_.'

This morning, he had to try hard to concentrate on what he was doing. When had woken up earlier, he had felt a dull ache behind his temples, which had in the meantime developed to a splitting headache in spite of the headache potion he had downed before leaving for Hogsmeade. '_I just hope I won't get sick right now when I have to accommodate a child over the holidays_,' he thought, trying his best to concentrate on the flu potion he was just brewing, because his and Pomfrey's stock had been completely used up by the many students, who had come down with the flu during the last two weeks.

'_That's a strange way to cut the chocolate, but well, it doesn't matter for the drops of course_,' he mused, absentmindedly stirring his potion, before he suddenly groaned inwardly, noticing that he had just stirred into the wrong direction. '_How in the world could that happen_?' he thought, terrified, and quickly banished the potion, before it could explode over the child and him.

HP HARRY'S POV HP

Harry was just carefully inserting the small chocolate pieces, diligently counting ten clockwise stirs and three counter clockwise stirs, when Severus suddenly mumbled something incoherent, banishing his potion with a fast wave of his wand.

'_What happened_?' Harry mused, throwing his guardian a concerned glance, before he turned back to his potion immediately. '_He looks ill_,' he thought as he risked another glance in the Potions Master's face, noticing that his cheeks were deeply flushed in contrast to his extremely pale face.

"Are you feeling all right, Severus?" he asked softly, not daring to turn his eyes away from his potion again.

"Of course, I'm fine," his guardian replied evenly but wasn't able to fool Harry about the fact that his voice sounded slightly hoarse.

Harry quietly finished his potion, unaware of the fact that the teacher was watching him in amazement, resolving to teach the boy to brew more difficult potions if he was interested.

"Well done Harry," he commended the child and showed him a plate with many small rectangular openings, instructing him to fill it with the potion and put it aside to let it cool down. "The drops will be ready in an hour," he told him and cleaned up the lab, using his wand.

"Wow, that was fast," Harry blurted out in amazement, remembering how much time he had always spent at the Dursleys' cleaning up the kitchen.

HP SEVERUS' POV HP

Back in the living room, Severus glanced at his wrist watch. "Harry, it's nearly lunchtime. You can eat lunch either here or in the Great Hall. During the holidays it doesn't matter where we eat. The Headmaster only insists that we take dinner together with the other teachers in the Great Hall."

"I don't mind," Harry replied softly, throwing the teacher a concerned look. "Which do you prefer, sir?"

"Ah, I shall just have some tea," Severus replied, shocked at how sore his voice sounded. "Normally, I don't eat lunch during the holidays," he added. '_There is no need to tell the brat that my throat is too sore to force anything down_.'

"Professor, would you mind if I fetched my school books, so I could get a head start on my homework?" the child's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"I merely said I didn't want to eat, which did not imply that you were allowed to go without lunch," he replied, giving the boy a stern look, who threw him a glance laced with concern, before he averted his eyes to the floor.

"Dolly!" the Potions Master called a house elf, before he let out a few coughs. '_Did I have to get sick right now_?' he groaned inwardly, before he instructed the house elf to fetch Harry's luggage and to bring a sandwich and pumpkin juice for Harry and a mug of tea for him.

"Professor, are you feeling all right?" Harry queried, looking straight into his guardian's eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied harshly, causing the child to quickly avert his eyes again. '_Maybe that was too harsh_,' he thought remorsefully, just when the boy spoke up quietly.

"I'm sorry, sir, if I'm bothering you. I don't like being fussed over either, but I know too well that it's even worse to be ignored if I'm sick and helpless. That's why I was asking. I'd like to help if I could."

Severus sighed and slowly massaged his temples with two fingers of both hands, before he coughed a few times and replied, "I'm sorry, Harry, I was too harsh and I apologize for that. You're right; I'm not really feeling well today. However, it's just a little cold and nothing you have to worry about. If you wish, and only if you wish, you may assist me and prepare some ingredients for me later."

"I'd like to do that, sir," Harry replied promptly, and a small smile played on his lips.

HP HARRY'S POV HP

'_I don't think that's just a little cold_,' Harry mused, watching his guardian's flushed face in concern. Small pearls of sweat were building on the man's forehead and his eyes were glazed over. However, not wanting to upset his guardian, he quietly munched his sandwich and contented himself with unobtrusively watching the professor nurse his tea. The teacher sat in the comfy armchair, which appeared to be his favourite seat, with his eyes closed and his hands wrapped around the mug of hot tea.

Harry quietly set his empty plate aside and began to do his holiday assignments, still shooting his guardian worried looks every few minutes. Looking up from his homework, he suddenly noticed that the teacher's breathing had evened out and that his head leaned against the chair in a strange ankle. '_He's fallen asleep_,' he mused as he silently stood up and walked around the table, carefully prying the mug out of the teacher's hands, which felt very hot to the touch. '_Oh no, he seems to be burning up_.'

Severus woke up by the cold touch, seeing how Harry carefully placed his mug on the table. "Thank you, Harry," he croaked.

"Severus, let me help you to bed. You're ill," Harry told him softly, hesitantly laying his small cold hand on the man's burning forehead, causing Severus to shiver violently.

"You're probably right," Severus had to admit. "Let me just fetch a few potions." He slowly stood up only to sit down immediately as a bout of dizziness overcame him.

"I'll fetch the potions for you, sir. Let me just help you to bed," Harry said gently, walking next to the teacher as he slowly dragged himself into his bedroom, leaning heavily on Harry's arm. "What potions do you need, and do you have a thermometer? I'd like to check your temperature first," he said businesslike, while he gently tucked Severus into his warm covers, watching how the man sighed in relief as he relaxed in his bed.

HP SEVERUS' POV HP

"Pepper Up potion, fever reducer, and headache potion please. The thermometer is in the bathroom," Severus croaked, and Harry hurriedly left the room.

Two minutes later, Harry was back with a small bucket and a cloth in one hand and a glass of water and a thermometer in the other. While he took the teacher's temperature, he gently bathed his hot forehead and cheeks with the cool cloth. "Thirty-nine point five (one hundred and three)," he announced, causing Severus to gasp inwardly.

'_That's fairly high for a cold_,' he mused. '_If I only hadn't messed up with the flu potion this morning; I'm likely to need exactly that potion_.'

"Severus, can you sit up and drink the potions, please?" Harry's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

He wearily tried to sit up, glad when Harry kindly supported his back, so he could concentrate on holding the phials in his trembling hands and gulp down the potions. He barely noticed that Harry gently helped him to lie down and tucked him in, before he succumbed to sleep.

HP HARRY'S POV HP

Not wanting to let his guardian alone, Harry fetched his school books and assignments and spent the afternoon studying in a chair he pulled over to the professor's bed side, worriedly bathing the man's hot face with the cold cloth from time to time. '_He feels even hotter than before in spite of the potions_,' he thought in concern but didn't want to disturb his sleep just to take his temperature.

All of a sudden, the fireplace in the living room flared, announcing that Minerva McGonagall was coming over. Harry quickly stood up and put his books on the night table, just when Severus jerked awake, croaking, "Oh no! Minerva wanted to come by for after dinner tea and I forgot."

"It's all right, I'll go and speak with her," Harry replied soothingly and hurried out of the room, seeing that Professor McGonagall just stepped out of the fireplace. "Good evening Professor," he said politely.

"Good evening Harry. Is everything all right? I missed you at dinner," Minerva gave back, looking questioningly at the boy.

"I'm sorry for missing dinner, Professor, but Severus is ill with a high fever and he was asleep so I didn't want to leave him."

"Severus is ill?" the teacher asked incredulously. "He's hardly ever been sick in all these years, and then he happens to fall ill exactly when Poppy is absent? The poor boy."

Seeing that Harry laughed in spite of the concern written on his face, she explained, "Severus has been my student when he attended Hogwarts together with your parents, Harry, and from an old woman's point of view he is still a boy even if he is the best Potions Master of the country and a very good colleague. Let me see if there's anything I can do for him." She followed Harry into Severus' bedroom and let out a small gasp at her colleague's sight.

"What's wrong, Severus? You look absolutely awful," she said worriedly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Turning to Harry, she queried, "How high was his fever?"

"I don't know, because he was asleep the whole afternoon," Harry replied, sticking the thermometer into the professor's half open mouth, while Minerva gently bathed Severus' hot face. "Forty point five (one hundred and four point five)," Harry read from the display, throwing Minerva a helpless look.

"Severus, do you have any idea what's ailing you? You know that Poppy is not here at the moment," Minerva urgently addressed the man in obvious concern.

"It's probably the flu. I tried to make the flu potion this morning but failed. I need to get up and brew, but... so weak and dizzy," Severus whispered, wearily glancing from Minerva to Harry with half open glassy eyes.

"You will not get up, Severus. Is the flu potion very difficult to brew, or do you think Harry and I might be able to brew it?" Minerva asked firmly, watching as Harry helped his guardian to bring himself into a half sitting position to drink a glass of water.

"It's a fourth class potion, but Harry is very adept. If you assist him, you might be able to brew it. It'll take two hours though," Severus croaked.

"All right, Professor. Let's go," Harry agreed eagerly, before he stopped in his tracks, turning back to Severus. "May we use your private lab, sir?"

"Yes of course," Severus whispered, already drifting back to sleep.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

"I've never seen Severus so ill before. Harry, we really have to get this potion right," Minerva mused aloud as they entered the laboratory.

"We just have to be careful, and then it'll be all right," Harry replied, trying to comfort the professor in spite of feeling very uncertain. He pulled the large book with the Healing potion recipes from the shelf, which Severus had used in the morning, and searched for the correct potion. "Ah, here it is," he sighed, putting the recipe on the table he had used in the morning, so that they could read together.

"Harry, you're the teacher here; I'm your student, and you have to tell me what to do, because I'm not good at brewing potions," Minerva told the boy and sighed in relief when he threw her a comforting smile.

"Don't worry, Professor, you can help me prepare the ingredients and perhaps watch the recipe and my brewing closely so you can stop me if I do something wrong like stir the wrong way or such," Harry replied as he began to gather the ingredients.

"I remember that your mother was very good at Potions. She and Severus were the best in their year," Minerva told him, while she diligently compared the labels on the ingredients Harry had laid out with the text in the recipe to check if Harry had gotten the correct ingredients.

"All right, Professor, could you please begin with the eucalyptus leaves and cut them into small slices? Then I'll slice the moon fern, and we can begin to brew. The other ingredients won't take so much time to prepare," Harry suggested, and the two of them quietly set to work.

Minerva watched the proficiency Harry displayed in amazement. Only towards the end of the brewing process he seemed to be getting tired and forcefully rubbed his forehead a few times as if a headache was bothering him.

"Are you all right, Harry?" she queried in concern, knowing that it was already ten o'clock in the evening.

"Of course Professor," Harry replied absentmindedly, fully concentrating on his potion. "That's it," he finally said, setting the finished potion aside, before he fetched a small phial. "Let's only bottle one at first, and only if Severus finds it all right I'm going to bottle the rest," he explained, before he looked at Minerva. "Professor, do you perhaps know the spell to clean everything up in a blink?" he enquired unsurely.

"I'll clean up here, and you bring Severus the potion," Minerva suggested, quickly waving her wand, before she followed Harry out of the lab.

"Severus," Harry woke the man up, "we made the potion, but could you please try to assess if it's correct, before you drink it?"

Severus struggled to sit up with Harry's help and sniffed at the potion, before he took a small sip and finally gulped the potion down, sighing in relief as it took effect within seconds.

"Thank you very much, Harry and Minerva. Full points for a fourth year potion; that's not bad," he croaked, before he lay down again. "There is something else I should ask you to brew," he continued hoarsely. "You should brew the flu prevention potion for yourselves, which is easy if you have an amount of about two phials full left in the cauldron." He threw Harry a questioning look.

"Yes, I still have to bottle everything; I wanted to show it to you first."

"That's good; you just have to mix in a few things. The recipe is on the next page in the book," Severus continued sleepily, slowly closing his eyes as he spoke.

"All right," Harry sighed and threw Minerva a grateful look as she charmed the wet cloth to stay cool and put it on Severus' forehead. He tiredly returned to the lab and bottled the flu potion except for a small amount, which he finished up according to the recipe, wondering if it would still work, considering that his throat suddenly felt very sore.

"Thank you very much, Harry. Fifty points to Slytherin," Minerva said as she put the empty phial on the sink next to Harry's.

"Thank you Professor," Harry gave back, unable to keep a huge yawn back that didn't go unnoticed by Minerva, who gave him a concerned look, noticing that he was very pale and his eyes were glazed over.

"Harry, you must be very tired, and you will go to bed this instant," she decided firmly. "I'll stay with Severus and look after him during the night. You can take over again in the morning, although I can imagine that he'll be up and about again tomorrow."

"Okay," Harry gladly agreed and went to bed, feeling too exhausted to enjoy that it was his first night in his first own room.

When Minerva woke Harry up in the morning by lightly shaking his shoulder, he couldn't get up. The world seemed to be turning around, his whole body was sore, and he felt hot and cold at the same time.

"Sorry," he croaked to the professor, wearily noticing that she stuck something cold into his mouth only to let out a gasp a short while later.

"Forty-one (one hundred and five) degrees! Harry, how could you manage to get ill so quickly?" Minerva's shocked voice penetrated his foggy mind, but Harry felt too bad to show any reaction.

Only a moment later, he noticed that Severus leaned over him and that he instantly felt better. "Thank you," he whispered gratefully.

"Your potion is brilliant, isn't it?" his guardian smirked. "Look at me, Harry. After the third dose you'll feel as good as new."

On the next day, which was Christmas Eve, Severus and Harry invited Minerva to make up for their missed after dinner tea the other day and to decorate a huge Christmas tree, which had appeared in the living room out of nowhere, together.

"It's a nice Christmas present that the only student remaining in the castle over Christmas earned fifty points for Slytherin," Severus smirked as they sat in the living room watching the beautifully decorated tree, causing Minerva to snort.

"You're welcome Severus," Harry gave back happily. "Merry Christmas."

**The End**

_

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This sequel was written for Maritime Stars in return for her participation in my writing contest (newsgroup). I hope you enjoyed?!_

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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